Under Control (12 page)

Buck naked, Joey walked down the hall in search of Jayla. Passing the guest room, he peeked in. She wasn’t there. He continued to the bathroom, but nobody was inside. He quickened his pace until he set eyes on the elegant figure seated at the desk in the living room.

Her back was to him, her hair coiled over one shoulder, a dark rope that drew him. He closed his fingers around the mass of hair and leaned over her to inhale her scent—which was a bit of each of them. “Mmm, I love that you smell like our lovemaking.”

She went still. He didn’t realize she’d stopped breathing until a raspy sigh escaped her. She lifted her hand to his jaw. “What are you doing up?”

“What are you doing out here? Looking at my sex toy catalog, I hope.” He nuzzled her fragrant throat.

“I was looking over my notes.”

On the desk before her was a notebook with a dark, barely legible scrawl on the pages.

“Where did you get that?”

“Blaine’s house.”

He suddenly forgot how to swallow and choked, which turned into a cough. “Blaine’s fucking house? You went there?”

“Yes.”

“Using an old key? You just
walked in
?” His eyes felt about to bulge out of his head. What could have happened to her…
Fuck.

Gabriel’s footstep sounded, and they both turned to look at him. “What’s going on?” He looked manly as hell, standing there in the buff, his carved abs cradling his morning glory and his thighs tensed as he braced his legs.

“Jayla is looking over a notebook she took from Blaine’s house.”

Gabriel’s face transformed from sleepy to highly alert. “You went into his house?”

“Yes, and if you must know, I broke in using a bent nail file.”

“Holy fuck.”

“Jesus Christ.”

Their blasphemies came out in unison, and she lifted her jaw in that adorable, defiant way that made him want to spank her ass and admire her at the same time. Keeping his hand firmly on her shoulder to keep her from running from their interrogation, he looked into her eyes.

“We don’t need to tell you how fucking dangerous that was.”

“No. I was scared to death.”

Much worse. Gabriel looked about to have a seizure or a stroke. “Why did you go inside, then?” His tone, pitched low, was more dangerous than his yelling.

“I had to try to find something to tell me his whereabouts. If not that, then to convict him.”

“And did you find it in this notebook? Because if you went into a dangerous arsonist and attempted murderer’s house to retrieve a book of recipes, I swear to God, Jayla—” Gabriel spouted.

Joey rested his palm on Gabriel’s chest, right over his pounding heart. “Calm down. We need to discuss this rationally.”

She stood. “Look, I appreciate both of your concern, but it’s over. I was in and out quickly, and nobody saw me. As for this notebook,” she flipped it shut, “there’s nothing in it but a list of bicycle parts. But I don’t even see something that would connect him to a crime.”

“I’d like to take the notebook in to my chief, if that’s all right with you,” Gabriel said.

“The cops didn’t take this notebook? Why?” Joey asked.

“I guess because it’s empty except a list of…” She trailed off, worrying her lower lip with her adorable white teeth. She glanced up at him. “A list of parts, like I said.”

“This whole investigation is stalled, isn’t it?” Joey’s rising frustration needed an outlet. He clenched his fingers into a fist.

Jayla looked between them. “This is why I need to go out there again. Nobody is doing enough to stop Blaine.”

“You aren’t leaving this house again, Jayla.” Joey’s tone made her jerk.

She narrowed her eyes and gave him a look of total fury. If her anger wasn’t focused on him, he’d cup her face and kiss the hell out of her. She was gorgeous when feisty. “Stop looking at me that way. You can’t stop me, Joey.”

“No, but I sure as hell intend to help you. You aren’t going alone, sweets. You aren’t leaving my sight.”

She pushed out a breath through her nostrils but didn’t reply. Then she turned and walked into the kitchen, where she started digging through the pantry as if she’d lived here forever.

He admired the lines of her body in simple yoga pants and a T-shirt, his chest warm and full at the idea of her making this place her own. To live, work, play, and pleasure together under one roof was a fantasy he hadn’t known he wanted until Gabriel had set her up in their guest room.

Two things he knew with a deep certainty, though—she belonged here with them. And he wasn’t letting her go.

Gabriel was too agitated to sit down, no matter how many times Chief invited him to do so. He paced before the desk, feeling hemmed in. A wild beast inside him raged to claw its way out and destroy.

“Gabe, it’s not me you’re working against, man. It’s the investigation. They don’t want any interference. You know it’s against protocol.”

“Yeah, but the guys haven’t even checked out the arsonist’s apartment yet! What the fuck kind of investigation is that?”

Chief shook his head, and Gabriel met his stare.

“I’m not asking permission to do this, Chief.”

“Dammit, you will stand down. That’s a direct order.” He thrust his finger toward Gabriel’s chest, fury etched on his features. They’d never bumped heads, but there had never been so much on the line before either. Not even when Gabriel was engulfed by flames and he’d ignored Chief’s order to get the hell out of there, he’d continued on, pushing past the wall of fire and into a space on the other side. He’d gone with his gut instincts and found a woman unconscious in the back room.

“I have a woman at my house who is in danger, and the man who caused that is still at large.”

“Wait a minute.” Chief’s tone turned deadly. “Wait just a goddamn minute. Did you take that woman home with you?”

Gabriel sliced a hand through the air in agitation. “You know damn well the man who’d intended to kill her would have found her in a few hours. I didn’t have any choice but to protect her.”

Chief raised a brow, and Gabriel felt heat rushing up from the neck of his shirt. “No wonder you’re so close to this, Gabriel.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You’re personally invested in the case now. I have no choice but to order you—again—to stand down. Let our investigators do their jobs. And don’t interfere.”

The last was delivered in a tone that brooked no arguments, and damn if Gabriel was going to heed it. But Jayla sure as hell was. She wasn’t about to pull one of her cut-and-run acts while he and Joey writhed in worry.

“You hearing me?” Chief barked.

“Yeah.” He swung out the door but didn’t make it two feet before Jagger clamped a hand on his nape.

“Walk with me.” He guided him off to the locker room.

Gabriel tore from the man’s grasp and glared at him. “I’ve got no beef with you.”

“I know. I get it. But listen, dude, you won’t get anywhere on this path. Believe me, I tried to play superhero when it came to this arsonist as well, but I soon realized one thing.”

“What’s that?” His pulse pounded in his temples, and he resisted the urge to massage them.

“We’re a team.”

East Street had a creed they’d all been asked to recite upon induction. The heavy language about teamwork and supporting each other at all costs echoed in his mind.

He dropped to the long bench along the wall. “Fucking hell.” He lowered his face into his hands.

“Just take it easy, bro. We’re all here for you, but we don’t want to see you do anything rash and get yourself hurt—or worse. You don’t want to leave Joey this way, do you?”

His words hit home. Dammit, of course he didn’t want to hurt his lover in any way. Joey was his world.

Except now there was a saucy little vixen who was beginning to mean as much to him. If he were honest with himself, she’d already burrowed a space in his heart, and evicting her would be a damn mess of monstrous proportions.

He sighed and looked at his buddy. “You’re right.”

“We’re good, then? I don’t need to keep watch over you so you don’t do something stupid?”

“No, I’m good. I got it. Thanks.”

Jagger extended a fist, and Gabriel bumped it with his own knuckles. Just then the alarm sounded, and they were on the run. Jumping into their gear and bolting for the trucks that would carry them all into danger. But they’d be together—a team at all costs.

»»•««

Jayla closed out of the Internet windows. Maps, warehouses that distributed pool chemicals. She’d come to a dead end in her research, but it shouldn’t surprise her. Blaine had evaded being caught for months.

A deep-seated anger with him kept resurfacing inside her, and having any feelings about him at all pissed her off. Anger was such a useless emotion, especially in this case. She’d most likely never have an opportunity to tell him off or make him understand what a terrible person he was.

Yet she couldn’t let go of the thoughts infesting her brain. If only she could find some brain bleach and wipe her mind clean.

She had the house to herself. With both men at work, she’d planned to research long into the night until she found some factor that would link Blaine to all of these fires. She scrubbed a hand over her face, fatigue settling over her.

She looked around the living space. The leather sofa had an indentation where the pair obviously sat together often, and Gabriel’s flannel shirt was draped over the back. She got up from the desk and padded across the floor to the sofa. Sitting in “their” place comforted her, and she slung the shirt over her shoulders.

Inhaling Gabriel’s scent, she found a bit of Joey’s aftershave lingered on the collar. The mixture sent her libido into overdrive. The problems in her mind vanished when she had both of them near, and she let her eyes slip shut.

Extreme circumstances had brought them all together, but fact was, she was glad. From the beginning, nothing about this situation seemed temporary. If she was mistaken and it ended, she still couldn’t be sad that she’d experienced this.

Heat spread through her lower belly, and she clamped her knees together. She wanted them—needed them. But it would be hours till they came home.

She slipped her fingers beneath the waistband of her pajama pants and down into her panties. Her clit was distended, aching to be sucked and nibbled. When she circled the swollen bud with her forefinger, a moan bubbled from her throat.

Gabriel. Joey.

Faster and faster she fingered herself, sinking her middle finger into her wet pussy and rolling her clit under her index finger. Need mounted far too fast for a solo mission, but her mind was flooded with images of the men together, kissing, sucking, biting each other. And the way Gabriel ground his hips when he sank into Joey’s body—

She burst with a cry. Waves washed over her as pulsations vibrated her hand and up her arm. She never let up until she was gasping.

Turning her face against the collar of the shirt, she breathed the men she was craving so much. Soon they’d be home and her fantasies could become reality.

At the feel of something warm and dry rasping over her nipple, she awakened with a jolt. She opened her eyes and met Gabriel’s dark gaze. His eyes were deep pools she wanted to jump into and never surface.

He skimmed his hand down her arm, and she realized suddenly that her fingers were still buried in her damp folds.

“I must have fallen asleep.”

He gave her the ghost of a smile, gaze smoldering. “I just came home to the hottest fucking thing I’ve ever seen.” He tugged her forearm, pulling her hand free of her panties. When he drew her fingers to his lips, she cooed in response. “Tell me what you were thinking about when you came.”

“You…and Joey. Together. Tangled up and touching me. Your lips on my body and your thick cocks filling me.”

“Fffuck.” He stuck her fingers into his mouth. The scorching heat enveloping her digits sent a brand new pang of want through her.

With her free hand, she reached for him, drawing him against her and smelling the man whose scent had permeated the shirt she’d been wrapped in.

He released her fingers and swooped in to capture her lips. He’d just showered and his hair was still damp close to the roots. She dug her fingers into his scalp and parted her lips for his tongue. Long, dizzying moments later, she withdrew from the kiss and looked at him.

“Shouldn’t we wait for Joey?”

“We’ve discussed this. Neither of us will be upset if we’re alone with you one on one. But he’s due home pretty quick. Why don’t we start without him?”

»»•««

“I’m finished up, Joey.” The waitress stopped at the bar, her purse slung over her shoulder, looking a lot more disheveled than she had when her shift started. He felt just as exhausted. It had been a packed house tonight, and he didn’t see a bottle of alcohol for a long time, he’d be happy.

“Okay, Anna. I’ll see you tomorrow. We can do this all over again.”

She shot him a wary grin and a wave. Once she left, he went and locked the back door after her. While he swept up, he liked to blast music, and one time an employee had forgotten something in the bar, come back for the item, and scared the bejeezus out of him. Now he was cautious.

He went into the back room for the cleaning supplies. Normally he didn’t mind the manual labor of cleaning the bar. It gave him time to unwind and his mind to transition into going home. He always wanted to be the very best version of himself for Gabriel.

And Jayla.

He shook his head and took up the broom. How she’d slipped into their lives was unconventional, but he couldn’t deny he didn’t want to let her go. Maybe a threesome relationship couldn’t last forever, but he was willing to try.

The dynamics between himself and Gabriel had subtly changed too. What they had was just as intense and passionate, but adding Jayla to the mix had made him feel closer to Gabriel.

After switching on the satellite radio, he swept around the bar and the pathway to the door. This mess with Jayla’s ex needed to end so they could see their future more clearly. He—

A blinding pain in his skull. A groan sounded—did that come from him? His knees buckled, and the broom hit the floor before he did. Beneath his cheek, the floor was gritty with the dirt from people’s shoes, but he couldn’t lift his head away from it.